MidwifeMamaHawk
In the Brooder
- Apr 17, 2024
- 38
- 26
- 33
So some of you may have seen my posts regarding the majority of the eggs I set to hatch not having hatched by day 25. Well, the mystery has been solved - they aren’t chicken eggs! In some crazy mixup so ended up with 3 chicken eggs and 12 duck eggs!!! I had never really seen duck eggs before. 
So, since I thought they were chicken eggs and had abnormally small air sacs at day 21 I put in safety holes. Then on day 24 I took off the shell over almost the entire air sac for 9 of the eggs. At this point I still had no idea they were duck eggs and was fairly certain they were malpositioned due to what I could see through the membrane. But there were still some big vessels so I just moistened the membranes and put them back. Day 25 I am thinking all of these chicks are malpositioned and are going to die if I don’t help them so I find the one where the vessels are almost completely absorbed, cleanse and moisten my finger, and start feeling for a beak along the membrane. I find the edge of what I think is a beak, right next to a leg joint, so I slowly and carefully put a small hole in the membrane then widen it enough to get around the edge
of the beak and nudge it out. At this point I realize, “holy crap, it’s a duck!” And it should not be hatching for 3 more days!
So what did I do? (I had not yet read the article about “capping” but I will remember that for the future.) I moistened the membranes with coconut oil and a soft paintbrush. I then made a prosthetic shell out of the shrink plastic used for weatherizing windows!
The upside to this is that I can keep an eye on the membrane and when the duck internally pips. I plan to remove
the plastic at that point and keep the membrane moist myself.
I feel like an idiot but I truly had no idea that the eggs could be duck eggs! Even the lady I got them from, when I asked her yesterday, said that they couldn’t be ducks because she didn’t have ducks. I pressed further and she
said that she gets a dozen duck eggs weekly
from a mutual friend for eating.
So these ducks are alive and very energetic on day 26 after -
- being stored for several weeks in a refrigerator and not rotated at all!
- humidity at 50-60% and temp at 100.5 for days 1-19.
- Essentially entered lockdown at day 19, humidity then increased to 70%, temp still at 100.5
- Had most of shells over air sac removed on day 24
- plastic prosthetic shell placed on day 25
Also, NO misting, NO cooling, and practically no turning since day 19 other than when I picked them up to candle them. And through all that and EVEN THE HIGH HUMIDITY the air cells have been getting bigger and doing what they are supposed to do. All the eggs are vigorous.
If these ducklings survive hatching they will be the most hardy resilient breed of ducks ever!
I currently (day 26) have:
9 eggs with prosthetic shells
2 eggs just with safety holes placed day 21
1 egg that is still “natural”
So we will see what happens…
So, since I thought they were chicken eggs and had abnormally small air sacs at day 21 I put in safety holes. Then on day 24 I took off the shell over almost the entire air sac for 9 of the eggs. At this point I still had no idea they were duck eggs and was fairly certain they were malpositioned due to what I could see through the membrane. But there were still some big vessels so I just moistened the membranes and put them back. Day 25 I am thinking all of these chicks are malpositioned and are going to die if I don’t help them so I find the one where the vessels are almost completely absorbed, cleanse and moisten my finger, and start feeling for a beak along the membrane. I find the edge of what I think is a beak, right next to a leg joint, so I slowly and carefully put a small hole in the membrane then widen it enough to get around the edge
of the beak and nudge it out. At this point I realize, “holy crap, it’s a duck!” And it should not be hatching for 3 more days!
So what did I do? (I had not yet read the article about “capping” but I will remember that for the future.) I moistened the membranes with coconut oil and a soft paintbrush. I then made a prosthetic shell out of the shrink plastic used for weatherizing windows!
The upside to this is that I can keep an eye on the membrane and when the duck internally pips. I plan to removethe plastic at that point and keep the membrane moist myself.
I feel like an idiot but I truly had no idea that the eggs could be duck eggs! Even the lady I got them from, when I asked her yesterday, said that they couldn’t be ducks because she didn’t have ducks. I pressed further and she
said that she gets a dozen duck eggs weekly
from a mutual friend for eating.
So these ducks are alive and very energetic on day 26 after -
- being stored for several weeks in a refrigerator and not rotated at all!
- humidity at 50-60% and temp at 100.5 for days 1-19.
- Essentially entered lockdown at day 19, humidity then increased to 70%, temp still at 100.5
- Had most of shells over air sac removed on day 24
- plastic prosthetic shell placed on day 25
Also, NO misting, NO cooling, and practically no turning since day 19 other than when I picked them up to candle them. And through all that and EVEN THE HIGH HUMIDITY the air cells have been getting bigger and doing what they are supposed to do. All the eggs are vigorous.
If these ducklings survive hatching they will be the most hardy resilient breed of ducks ever!
I currently (day 26) have:
9 eggs with prosthetic shells
2 eggs just with safety holes placed day 21
1 egg that is still “natural”
So we will see what happens…
